Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Trims Position in Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital Co. (NASDAQ:ARCC - Free Report) by 11.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 761,834 shares of the investment management company's stock after selling 102,806 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC owned approximately 0.12% of Ares Capital worth $15,953,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Ares Capital by 41.3% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 26,338 shares of the investment management company's stock valued at $548,000 after purchasing an additional 7,695 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC raised its position in Ares Capital by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 3,099,134 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $64,524,000 after buying an additional 223,245 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its position in Ares Capital by 19.6% during the 1st quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,990 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $250,000 after buying an additional 1,966 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 206.7% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 55,516 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $1,156,000 after acquiring an additional 37,412 shares during the period. Finally, Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp increased its stake in shares of Ares Capital by 200.6% during the first quarter. Obermeyer Wood Investment Counsel Lllp now owns 138,704 shares of the investment management company's stock worth $2,888,000 after acquiring an additional 92,569 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.38% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on ARCC. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Ares Capital from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday. JMP Securities upped their price objective on Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "market outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Compass Point raised Ares Capital to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. B. Riley upped their price target on shares of Ares Capital from $21.00 to $22.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Ares Capital to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ares Capital presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $21.86.

Ares Capital Price Performance

NASDAQ:ARCC traded up $0.39 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $21.40. 6,736,326 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,382,914. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a current ratio of 1.29. The company has a market cap of $13.83 billion, a PE ratio of 8.19 and a beta of 1.01. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $21.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.96. Ares Capital Co. has a 1 year low of $19.32 and a 1 year high of $22.05.

Ares Capital (NASDAQ:ARCC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The investment management company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by ($0.01). Ares Capital had a net margin of 53.71% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The company had revenue of $755.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $770.45 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.59 EPS. Ares Capital's quarterly revenue was up 15.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Ares Capital Co. will post 2.36 EPS for the current year.

Ares Capital Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 30th. Investors of record on Friday, December 13th will be paid a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 8.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 13th. Ares Capital's payout ratio is 73.85%.

Ares Capital Profile

Ares Capital Corporation is a business development company specializing in acquisition, recapitalization, mezzanine debt, restructurings, rescue financing, and leveraged buyout transactions of middle market companies. It also makes growth capital and general refinancing. It prefers to make investments in companies engaged in the basic and growth manufacturing, business services, consumer products, health care products and services, and information technology service sectors.